Policy Changes

Conflict of Interest Policy and Standards of Conduct, Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest Form

The text of the policy has been revised to indicate that the look-back period for conflicts of interest is changed from five years for all relationships to five years for employment and 12 months for all other relationships. A new conflict of interest form has been designed to conform to the policy and to incorporate standards of conduct and confidentiality.

Staff contact: Barbara Gross Davis

Request for Comments on Policies

WSCUC is seeking public comments on proposed changes to two policies. Click the links below for more information about the policies. Please send comments to policies@wscuc.org by May 6, 2022. Revised policies reflecting comments will be reviewed and considered for adoption by the Commission at its June 2022 meeting.

Gifts Policy

The policy was edited to reflect current terminology (“peer reviewers” instead of “evaluators”), to include institutions seeking accreditation (“applicants”), to replace “nominal value” with “minimal value” in describing permissible gifts, and to indicate that providing lodging for teams is allowed under the policy.

Ownership of Stock in For-Profit Institutions Policy

The policy was retitled Ownership of Stocks in Publicly Traded Institutions and revised to remove the minimum dollar amount required to disclose stock ownership, to exclude managed funds (such as blind trusts or mutual funds) from the policy, to replace the term “for-profit” with “publicly-traded,” to substitute “peer reviewers” for “team” and “committee members,” and to indicate that it applies to applicant as well as eligible, candidate and accredited institutions. A cross reference to the Conflict of Interest Policy and the related self-disclosure form has also been added.

March 2022 Newsletter

• WSCUC Standards and Handbook Review Process
• Launch of Graduate Only KID and Peer Benchmarking on WSCUC Website
• Educational Programs Updates